Sadie Hawkins Day is an American pseudo-holiday and folk event held on November 15. On this day, many high schools, middle schools and colleges host informal dance events, in which female students invite male students.

Sadie Hawkins Day was inspired by satirical comic strip Li’l Abner written and drawn by Al Capp. The strip ran from 1934 to 1977 and had 60 million readers in 900 American newspapers, as well as in 100 foreign newspapers in more than two dozen countries.

The story of Sadie Hawkins was told in the November 15, 1937 daily comic strip. Sadie was a spinster, aged 35 and still not married. Her father called together all the eligible bachelors of their neighborhood and made them participate in a foot race. The bachelor who lost the race would marry Sadie.

The town spinsters liked the idea so much that they made Sadie Hawkins Day an annual event. If a woman managed to catch a bachelor and drag him across the finish line before sunset, by law he had no other option than to marry her.

The exact date of the race was never mentioned in the comic strip. “Real-life” Sadie Hawkins Day is usually held on November 15 or on the first Saturday after November 9. Its practical basis is one of simple traditional gender role-reversal. On this day, women and girls are encouraged to take initiative by inviting the man or boy of their choice to a Sadie Hawkins dance or simply asking them out on a date.